Thursday, June 17, 2010

An Early, and Somewhat Eccentrically British, Clue to the New Direction

From 1984, and Stiff Records -- the World's Most Flexible Label -- please enjoy the unhinged stylings of howling weirdo John Otway and his rendition of the venerable and melodramatic country weeper classic "Green, Green Grass of Home."

Heh heh. I love that picture sleeve; in case you haven't noticed, that's Otway's head pasted (rather crudely, in those pre-Photo Shop days) over actual album cover boy Tom Jones.

In any case, as a always, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first reader who gleans the clip's relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

Over one strange weekend in New York City I was Otway's roadie - not a very good one, I'm afraid. It was 198...1 maybe? He played two nights at a dance club on the West Side whose name I have forgotten and then the next night at the Bottom Line opening for Squeeze. The band was a trio. He played guitar and violin and was very hard on the equipment. The guys stayed at the Iroquois Hotel on 44th Street and I slept on the floor because I was a starving singer-songwriter with no place else to sleep. I think I had made it a condition of my employment that I crash at the hotel. How I got the job I don't remember, but I was let go before the Bottom Line gig because (I think) I was big and clumsy and when I ran out on the stage to rescue whatever equipment Otway was abusing at the moment I tended to knock things over and make it all worse. He jumped on me once and wrestled me to the ground while singing "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." After the shows (and sometimes in the afternoons) he and I would go to the same cheap restaurant near the hotel and he would always eat the same thing, fried chicken. My favorite tune of his is "Beware of the Flowers 'Cause I'm Sure They're Gonna Get You, Yeah."